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jbalonso777

Brief background to this trip: decided to go on a cruise from Seattle. With San Francisco being our base, we had a choice of airlines for a morning departure out of SFO, and coming back. Unlike Indian domestic where a return ticket would be cheaper than two one ways, in the USA the price of a return ticket is 2 one way tickets. Chose Delta over Southwest (departure was from Oakland), Alaska Airlines (kept this for return), Virgin America (way too expensive and more importantly, it was an Airbus A320 Wink

) United (Airbus, again) because it was cheaper, gave me SkyMiles AND a new type - Embraer E175!
As I mentioned, on return, we had to take a stopover at Portland, OR simply because it was cheaper than the direct flights. It came down to a B737-400 vs a Q400…went for the former because it is getting quite rare these days!

But first, some pictures from San Francisco:

Time for some spotting!

Woke up pretty early in the morning, I think it was 0630 hours. Some rejigging and repacking later, it was down to the hotel lobby to check out. The shuttle bus came on time. On to the freeway, I saw a couple of narrow body planes lined up for departure. I was quietly excited for my first domestic flight in the USA.
Delta passengers were to get off first. Got ripped off paying $5 for the luggage trolley. Check in in the USA is a bit different than...anywhere in the world, really. You're basically entering your data in to a kiosk, wherein you can make changes to the flight, seats, FFP number, etc. Three boarding pass..err..shopping mall receipts were printed out. The kiosk also collects another set of rip off fees, baggage fees. This printed out the baggage tags.

Part 2 of check in included the dropping off of the bags. One bag was a bit over 50 lbs (23 kgs, I'm going to stick to that.) and mum did a great job rejigging the bags one last time, making sure everything was within limits. Our boarding passes had 'TSA PreChck' written on it. We had no clue what it was! Showed it to one of the TSA agents, and she guided us straight through, no screening or anything required, just the cabin luggage being screened. What just happened? No body scans? Hmm, that was strange.

San Francisco isn't one of Delta's (nine) hubs in the USA, but Seattle is. However, there was quite a lot of Delta planes around, including some lovely Boeing 757s.

Delta shuttle Boeing 717, most of these head to LAX.

There is my Embraer E175! N630CZ from base Seattle

Still a while to wait, the gate for our flight was a bit for away. Sat around close to the gate, and some coffee/tea drinks later, N630CZ the Embraer E175 came in from its base Seattle, as the DL5736, the same as my flight number. A pre-boarding announcement was made for all passengers, so basically first class followed by important FFP people followed by zone wise boarding. Unfortunately, this didn't work out very well because there was a huge line that was created at the aerobridge itself. So much for an ‘organized’ boarding! Anyway, I stepped in to the plane and the flight attendant there was busy chatting with the pilots…yeah passengers getting onboard, big deal! Walked through the 2-1 abreast First Class before entering the 2-2 abreast Economy class. I headed for my seat 13A, while my parents took 12A and 12B. The E175 felt like a CRJ to be honest..a very small cabin…except that the E175 is perhaps higher than a CRJ, of course. The plane filled up slowly…and soon every seat on board the aircraft was filed.

Two cabin crew members, one male and one female in their late 40s early 50s, both of them did their job to be honest…no real smiles, just one or two thrown in here and there. The Captain came over the PA system to brief us about the flight. He gave us plenty of details about the flight, for example the slight turbulence that might occur straight after take off, the the possible sights of various mountains around Seattle (including Mt. Rainier, Mt, Adams, Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens, part of the Cascade Mountain range) on approach. While this happened, the cabin crew went about securing the cabin for departure. Like on board my first flight on that Cathay Pacific Airways disappointment, the crew members on Delta Air Lines ensure that everything under the seat was all the way in. This instruction was justified by the fact that in the event of an emergency, I could walk out easily, the crew member explained. Unlike those dolts at Cathay, I wasn’t ordered to kick my camera under the seat. I had my camera all ready to shoot the events of my first flight with Delta, and my first flight on the E175.

Photograph by Dad!

Pushed back on time, both GE CF34 engines were brought to life at the same time. A pretty quick taxi to the parallel runways, we lined up with 01R. A lovely American Airlines Boeing 757-200 in the older livery lined up alongside us…however it was us who blasted down the runway into the overcast skies of San Francisco. A northernly course was set for the flight to Seattle. As soon as we reached the crushing altitude, the seatbelt signs were turned off.

JET AIRWAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Service began, with one trolley. Of course, the usual American airline fare. Pretzels, Peanuts, Cookies. There also was a large variety of juices, aerated drinks (minute made and Coca Cola products), and about a million types of coffee. Starbucks Coffee, because Delta takes pride in serving Starbucks coffee, its mentioned pretty much every where. I think there were a few tapas that were on sale, none for us. I asked for a decaf coffee and two whiteners, and a sugar sachet. Pretzels and Delta's Biscoff cookies with that. The pretzels were nothing special, the cookies were alright, and the coffee was horrendous, I knew just about as soon as I took a sip of it. Took me quite some time to get that into my system. Then again, I guess that is how most Americans consume their coffee.

Nothing too dramatic happened in the flight. I took a look at the domestic route map of Delta Air Lines within the USA, I realized that San Francisco is not a very large hub for Delta Air Lines! Seattle and Los Angeles, however, are major hubs for Delta Air Lines. As always, it was quite exciting to see other planes fly by overhead, especially in the United States where there are quite a few of them! The First Officer came over the PA to give further arrival information into Seattle, reporting pleasant weather and no traffic. Awesome for us - we could get on the ship with no worries!

Obligatory winglet shot!

A few banks later, N623CZ was slowly making way towards Earth, over the lovely Seattle Bay. I saw a couple of ships around, but none of them that looked anything like a cruise ship. It was quite a smooth descent on the E175, I’m not sure if this is an Embraer or E175 thing, but it was pretty smooth. This was followed by a very smooth landing at 1058 hours and pretty hard braking, a quick exit out of the runway. Crossed over the runway for departures (we landed on 34L and departures were on 34R). Plenty of Alaska Airlines Boeing 737s and Q400s, while quite a few Delta Air Lines regional jets were taxiing towards the runway for departure. We came to sudden halt on the taxiway. The Captain came over the PA saying that another plane was still due to be pushed back from our gate, and we had to wait thanks to our early arrival. This didn’t last too long, however.

Mt. Rainier!

We soon docked at the gate, still a few minutes before time. I noticed the number of Compass Airlines equipment around the aircraft - after all, this was a flight operated by Compass Airlines for Delta Air Lines, what might’ve been a Northwest Airlines flight!

All passengers got off and we were few of the last. Dad, however, forgot to get a bag in all the madness and we had to wait for it to be returned with a ground staff. N623CZ was being prepared for its flight to Sacramento. Dad apologized profusely for leaving the bag onboard, it was a pretty short walk to baggage claim. Got ripped off again thanks to the trolleys…but they didn’t work. Add to the woes, the smart people at Delta did not specify where the luggage for DL5736 was coming in. It was belt 1, we were somewhere close to Belt 5/6 cluelessly searching for our bags.

I couldn’t help my self but look at this lovely Golden Retriever that was in the large luggage counter, waiting for the owner to arrive. It looked like the crate had just arrived. S/He was calm and collected about it, sat in the crate. I was reminded of how Dobby will be taken back home after my parents were done with their Colombo stint. Before I missed Dobby a bit too much, I found out that my parents found the luggage all the way a Belt 1. Wow, Delta.

We found representatives of the Norwegian Cruise Line who took in our luggage that would be taken to the ship directly. We waited for the bus. A nice holiday atmosphere was kicking in slowly but surely. The fun drive to the Pier included my first sighting of an Icelandair plane, a Boeing 757. The Blue Angels were putting up a spectacular show, as we sped towards the city of Seattle. Through the elevated freeways of Seattle, I started to like this city a lot! And soon, there she was. The magnificent Norwegian Pearl, waiting to embark on its cruise! There she was, our home for the next week! This was the beginning of something epic.

I will leave you with a couple of pictures of the ship itself, more later!

Regards
Jish
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sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

Fascinating, as usual.
Once again, all the essential elements of a JB-esque trip report were there,
this time, including the even more beautiful `obligatory' (winglet/sharklet/wingtip) shot, that of the Jungle Jet!
Work has never taken me to San Francisco, even with the current bonus of one of the longest direct B77L flights ever. The Wife and Junior have been there with The Wife's side of the family: lucky people. The only two points on the `West' where I have been, are San Diego (twice), and Seattle (once).
The SFO spotting pictures were pure eye candy, with the A388 juxtaposed with smaller fry being my favourites. The side-profile shots and the angular ones resulting in an apparently steep take-off angle of attack: were lovely, as well. I also see that (y)our love for the thin pencil has not subsided Smile

The E-175 aisle picture by Mr. Basu (Sr): isn't this a cell-phone snap?
(We would also love to see his version of this trip!)
The Delta Biscoff cookies and mini-pretzels: one needs a zoom to be able to photograph them well Razz

SeaTac photography: wow, three split-scimitars!
I have done some very basic sightseeing at Seattle: I hope you were able to manage a good bit. I was only able to do the Museum of Flight.
I look forward to the other parts with bated breath!
Cheers, Sumantra.

jbalonso777 · Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2016 11:32 pm Post subject:

jbalonso777 · Posted: Sat Apr 09, 2016 11:34 pm Post subject:

As usual, I have the videos on YouTube:

Start up: https://youtu.be/xV2n37qH1Ns
Take off: https://youtu.be/LZLJtb3SC1A
Landing: https://youtu.be/g8ZGEPDiRRM

And of course, the entire flight condensed into ten minutes:
https://youtu.be/R_f4W4jMcg8

Regards
Jish
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http://www.youtube.com/c/JishnuBasu777

sumantra · Member Joined: 28 Oct 2007 Posts: 4685 Location: New Delhi

ameya · Posted: Mon Apr 18, 2016 12:33 pm Post subject:

Nice pictures

Of the Jet Airways B777 as well as Virgin America. . a brand which will not exist a few months from now !
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Spiderguy252 · Posted: Tue Apr 19, 2016 11:56 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the report, Jish! My Embraerginity is still intact, and you can blame the sloths at Costa for that. Evil or Very Mad

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Yeah.

jbalonso777 · Posted: Wed Apr 20, 2016 9:05 am Post subject:

@Ameya sir -yes! Very much so! Writing about this TR, a lot I could think of was about Alaska Air's merger with Virgin America. Sure, the 9W B77W was a treat of some sort, too!

@Varun - yeah, that kinda sucks! These ERJs are pretty OK, nothing spectacular. The E145s are where the real business is at! Very Happy

That said, always cool to get an aircraft off of the list...

Regards
Jish
_________________
http://www.youtube.com/c/JishnuBasu777